In his book, Whitney discusses spiritual disciplines that are vital to the health of the believer. These things are very challenging when someone tries to incorporate them into their lives. Bible intake and Prayer are things that are often over looked in the lives of believers, they are however super important when one is seeking to know God. Bible intake is where you take the Bible and develop disciplines in your life, studying the bible, whether it be in quiet times, or personal Bible study, or scripture memory. Prayer is another discipline that needs to be incorporated, Prayer being incorporated in every aspect of our lives. I want to take many of these disciplines and use them in my life as something that can truly cause me to grow in my
My interest in researching how to Implicitly Integrate prayer and scripture in therapy peaked upon realizing the explicit integration appears to be more approachable. I do not want to limit my own competency, nor the benefit of the client. Gaining knowledge and skill in applying a method that is not as commonly used as Explicit Integration Therapy opens the window to use subtle biblical emphasis without the client feeling bombarded or perturbed.
According to the article Use of Prayer and Scripture in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, published in the Journal of Psychology and Christianity in 2007, Siang-Yang Tan talked about how prayer and scripture can be incorporated into the practice of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Lately, in the field of CBT, there have been an increased on a suggestive awareness regarding a two-component model that involves self-regulation of attention in order to preserved on instant knowledge, centers on present circumstances, and implements an orientation to the acceptance of a person’s
The importance of making study a spiritual discipline is that it is not enough just to believe the truth someone has told me. It necessitates the exploration to learn and see the truth for myself. In making the truth my own not only am I transformed by it but I am also better prepared to give an account of my faith to others.
I’d like to state the most obvious observation that I’ve made about spiritual formation; that is that I will always need to be seeking for ways to nurture my personal spirituality throughout my life. I know that to most people this may sound like a “duh” statement, but for me it has truly become a reality and one that I must admit I have been struggling to embrace. I was brought up in a church that, like most traditional churches, stayed happy living in the “comfort zone” of their Christianity. They took everything that the Bible said at face value without digging in to find out why they believed what they believed. I had never been challenged to look deeper into the text. In the past few years I have felt the need to tunnel out of this
My spiritual discipline for five days is going to be a quest for a well-ordered heart. A well-ordered heart will give me the life I have always wanted by fixing not only external problems but internal disorders as well. Ortberg lays out five questions that will help a person grow more intimately with God so that He can transform and mold our hearts. Each day I will approach a different question and use it in my daily routine and describe what I learned. The first question that Ortberg poses is how and when will I pray? First, I am going to pray for 10 minutes in silent prayer as soon as I wake. Then, do daily devotionals with my intern group and be intentional about prayer time. Also, start a habit of praying randomly throughout the day. Finally, before bed, spend 10 minutes praying about the day, about changes, and for the following day.
That is one of the areas of my life that I know God is really working on right now; the idea that I will probably never find time, but that I need to make time for these disciplines to happen in my life. With that being said, I have decided that I will start off by journaling once a week. My goal will be to work through the example questions that are offered on page 52 of Calhoun’s book Spiritual Disciplines Handbook. For example, the first two questions that I will aim to answer are: “For what moment today am I most grateful? For what moment today am I least grateful?.” Just because I know that Tuesdays, next semester, are filled with less activities than other days of the week, I am going to try very hard to journal every Tuesday. I would love to see the amount that I journal increase every few weeks, but I know that a goal like that would not be attainable for me. My ambition is to allow myself thirty minutes every Tuesday to analyze my walk with the Lord and others; however, I hope to allow the Spirt to lead me to think about other things in my journals. In other words, I hope that what I write when answering the predetermined questions will inspire me to begin writing other burdens that may be on my
In the book of the Celebration of Discipline, Foster talks about the importance of an individual’s spiritual growth. Spiritual Discipline is very crucial to a Christian’s life. Foster divided spiritual discipline into three main categories: and twelve aspects of spiritual discipline areas within the three major disciplines. The three major disciplines are “Inward” which is an individual’s personal growth in the Lord, “Outward” which is how a person can serve the people around them, and lastly, “Corporate” is how a church can grow in the Lord as a community. The Inward disciplinary includes meditation, prayer, fasting, and study. The outward disciplinary consists of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service. Lastly, the corporate discipline
I started reading with the expectation of learning how to use prayer and scripture in therapy. By reading this article I learned of the historical overview of how prayer and scripture became a part of therapy. I also learned of the ethical and proper uses of prayer and scripture during “CBT” and also had a chance to read the illustration of different therapy sessions using different Christian approaches. It was very pleasing to see the key features of biblical approaches used in Cognitive-Behavior Therapy. I learned of the difference between Implicit and Explicit integration in therapy and it was used. Learning of how to conduct a pre-intervention assessment to establish the method of whether to use Standard or Christian CBT was very helpful. I discovered about the seven steps to inner healing prayer and how it might not be a good idea to use these methods on a more psychotic client. I would definitely want to research the use of scripture and prayer a little more and how effective it is in treating clients. I am glad to see that it actually help the client in the article and also how he showed his method of doing so with Christian CBT. It is so exciting to see that Biblical or Christian values can help heal a client. I would absolutely love working in a Christian Counseling setting where I would be able to share and teach a client about the Lord and still help them get through whatever crisis they might have.
In life, the smallest things can turn out to be the biggest things that matter in a person's life. The most smallest things can have an impact and can change our lives without us knowing it. When I was younger, my mom bought a children's version of the bible for me. I'm sure she bought it because she knew how much I loved to read. I am also sure she bought it because she wanted to set the foundation of a relationship between me and God.
John Ortberg’s manuscript, The Life You’ve Always Wanted: a spiritual disciples for ordinary people, published in 2002 at Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ortberg tells us the pathway in rejoining our connection to God, which allows us to have what our heart’s desire, the life we have always wanted. He describes it through spiritually disciplined. Ortberg (2002) defines spiritual discipline as “Any activity that can help me gain power to live life as Jesus taught and modeled it” (Ortberg, p. 48). Spiritual disciplines are simple; they help me live in the fruit
The course thus far has been one of challenge, dedication and most of all a tremendous learning experience. The value of incorporating Scripture teachings in work was far more relevant than I could have ever imagined. The course began with a detailed view of ourselves, our work and our devotion to the creation mandate. Being able to reflect and recognize our life purpose was paramount to being successful in our work. The personal S.W.O.T analysis gave us the ability to identify our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. I found this tool to be helpful in making a competent determination of the aspects to our personal and professional lives.
I got very annoyed and was very disturbed when Moore discussed the ordination of women in the Catholic Church; as well as the discussion about changing the words of the Bible and the Lord’s Prayer. First, Moore discusses feminist liberal movements changing the wording of the Bible: “Proffered gender-neutral language, substituting ‘brothers and sisters’ for ‘brothers,’ interpreting the pronoun ‘He’ as the proper noun ‘God,’ and using ‘Our Parent’ instead of ‘Our Father’ in the Lord’s Prayer (Moore 143). The Lord’s Prayer was given to us by Christ in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke. To turn around and decide you don’t like the wording so you’re going to change it is very disturbing to me. The prevalence of the idea of gender-neutral
Deciding who you will marry is one of the most important decisions as a Christian single you will ever make other than accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. These are some questions worth asking yourself: Are you the person you are looking for? Would you be God’s choice for someone else? Are you preparing to be God’s choice for someone else? As a single, it’s important that we don’t just desire to find the right person, but be that person that we desire to marry. We need to possess the same qualities and characteristics that we desire to see in our future mate. If we desire to marry someone with integrity, humility, character, determination, loyalty and vision, then we need to embody these attributes as well. If you want the
What does the phrase “For the joy of the Lord is your strength” mean to you?
The fifth question on practices that allow one to grow spiritually, Les answers “Bible reading, prayer, and fellowship with other believers. These are the biblical examples of spiritual tools.” This is truly the model by which one can grow spiritually. In my experience, being in fellowship with fellow believers is the only way to be protected spiritually, grow spiritually, and connect with others spiritually. This small group model, or fellowshipping coupled with daily prayer and meditation of God’s word keeps us moving and stretching ourselves to develop a deeper understanding of God’s nature and this will allow us to become more secure in our